Yeshiva University Students Lose Appeal in $680 Million Abuse Case

By Paul Berger September 4, 2014

Thirty-four former students have lost their appeal of a judge’s decision to dismiss their $680 million lawsuit against Yeshiva University.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled today that the students waited decades too long to file claims that they were abused during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s at a Y.U.-run boys high school.

Under Title IX, students have three years from the time they become aware of a school’s deliberate indifference to their abuse to file a suit.

The students said that they first found out that Y.U. knowingly employed abusive staff members in a December 2012 article in the Forward.

But the judges found that the suit, “filed more than 20 years after the last plaintiff left [the school] was correctly dismissed” by a U.S. District court in January.

Matt Yaniv, a spokesman for Y.U., said: “Today’s decision concludes a legal proceeding that has been trying for all involved. Our thoughts remain with anyone who may have been harmed by actions that occurred many years ago and our confidential counseling services remain available to those affected.”

Kevin Mulhearn, a lawyer for the former students, vowed to appeal the decision.

“My clients, sex abuse survivors all, have been violated once again,” Mulhearn said.

“We are not finished,” he added. “Not by a long shot.”

Contact Paul Berger at [email protected] or on Twitter @pdberger

Paul Berger was a staff writer at the Forward from 2011-2016, covering crime and healthcare issues, such as sex abuse, circumcision, and fraud. He is a fluent Russian speaker and has reported from Russia and Ukraine. He also likes digging into historical mysteries.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO